I was wondering, is there any way to buy sailfish os devices in the United States? I am trying to get my hands on a smartphone with Sailfish preinstalled and so far I can only find devices with after market installs. I would like to try it out at some point.

There havn't been devices with SFOS preinstalled for a long time (in fact, the Jolla 1 was the one and only). After that, there was only the Aqua Fish which was available only in India and the few devices re-branded as Jolla C (as community device) which were impossible to get a hold of.
After that, Jolla switched to selling only licenses for SFOS which you can install on certain Sony devices.

So to get a smartphone with SFOS, you'd have to get a supported Sony device (most likely an Xperia X, Model F5121 or 5122). Then, you'll need to buy a license from the Jolla Store (although it is only available inside the EU, you can simply use e.g. a VPN based there to purchase it) and flash it yourself.

Note that there are also "community versions" for quite some devices. Those are versions that community members build for the specific device and do not have any support from Jolla. If you want a quick and cheap way to test SFOS, they may be a good start. But please check the status of the version for your chosen device first as it may be outdated (the current version of SFOS is 2.2.0.29) or have severe bugs or limitations. Also, the community versions come with some features missing (text input prediction and Android support) since those are licensed by Jolla from third parties which do not allow to redistribute them.

This Jolla JP1301 for sale on eBay says it will ship to the USA;

https://www.ebay.es/itm/Jolla-1-16GB...QAAOSwNLJbR-yf

If I recall correctly, you may have problems with the network bands, I'm sure there are/were US users who complained that they couldn't use 3G or 4G (I don't recall all the details), so do some homework before purchasing so you are not stuck with a smartphone you cannot use.

Waaaay overpriced :O if you ask me; for that money get a used xperia x and a sfos license!

Right. Jolla Phone in the US is limited to 2G as American telecoms use different frequency for 3G/4G than other countries.
Additionally, Jolla 1 is a GSM phone. For 2G, this means it only works with GSM carriers, i.e. AT&T and T-Mobile. (Verizon and Sprint are CDMA.) As AT&T is shutting down its 2G network, this means your only choice left is T-Mobile.

The license cannot be purchased while in the US, thus this thread.

I've attached an image of what you get while in the US (North America) geolocation and hit up the https://shop.jolla.com website.

The problem will continue to exist unless a third party that's willing to ship to the US is listed. As an American (USA) resident, I have a tablet and Jolla C. The Jolla C does not have the proper 3G/4G/LTE channels to connect. Best I've gotten was 2G in a few cities (I think) but nothing in the more rural area that I presently live in.

The Xperia X does have the right GSM radios but as stated above, obtaining the license is not available for the North America market for purchase.

you can use opera browser (portable) with buildin vpn option and than you can select germany gateway.

I have done this the same way, because i was in canada in the time of sailfish x release to flash my device which i already had.

Curious. Billing information doesn't count against you?

I dont think it does block you technically. Maybe you may fail at the paywall that some US credit cards are not accepted, but I doubt that as well.
And just out of curiosity, why do you need any proper billing,.... warranty is not really something I would count on,...

I bought it through the Opera VPN using US billing information and a US credit card.